Delicate balances: The ecology, culture and communication of reading teachers

In this paper, the authors propose extending the training of reading teachers to include sociological aspects. They describe three traits that training programs for reading educators could foster: (1) ecological thinking, (2) cultural responsiveness, and (3) communicative competence. Ecological thinking acknowledges the complexities of pedagogical decision‐making. Cultural responsiveness requires understanding classroom events and the influences of a wider environment. Communicative competence is what teachers use to explain, clarify, and justify their reading activities, methods, and strategies. In general, communicative competence challenges the reading teacher to express the reasoning behind a sundry of educational judgments. In conclusion, the authors suggest changes which would align the training of reading teachers with these sociological considerations.